1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical apparel, and in particular to a reinforced cut and puncture resistant surgical glove having hard particulate matter dispersed in a polymeric matrix to produce a flexible surgical glove having improved cut and puncture resistant properties.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical and dental personnel come in contact with a number of substances which pose a personal risk and which surgical gloves are relied upon to protect these individuals from harm. Blood carrying viruses, toxins, hepatitis, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and a plethora of other risks face medical practitioners every day. Common latex gloves, which are impervious to the solutions and solvents carrying these dangers are sufficient to protect the doctors and nurses who wear them and provide the maneuverability and tactile response which is often times necessary for skilled operations requiring the utmost in control and precision. However, the latex gloves provide the necessary tactile response at the expense of structural integrity. The thin gloves are cut or pricked by needles or scalpels, the consequences of which could be catastrophic to the user of the gloves. Infections and contamination caused by surgical gloves which have been cut or impregnated by a medical instrument causing blood or other fluid to be transferred from a patient to the care giver have always been a major concern of medical personnel, and the rise of the AIDS epidemic has further heightened the awareness of these dangers. It is clear that there is a need in the art for a puncture and cut resistant surgical glove which can protect individuals from dangerous substances.
In response, the manufacturers of surgical gloves have attempted to provide a more durable glove which retains the ductility and responsiveness of the latex glove. Thicker gloves made of urethane have been tried, but the thicker gloves do not provide the touch necessary for delicate surgeries such as cardiovascular or neurosurgery. Other attempts have included attaching a mesh of fine metal to the glove, such as that of Welch, U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,290. Welch teaches an armor applied to a glove during the curing of the rubber glove on the dorsal side of the glove to protect the hand from cuts. The Welch glove is susceptible to needle pricks and the armor mesh adds weight to the glove while reducing the ductility. Other methods include a multi-layer surgical glove with pillars interspersed between the layers at critical areas where cuts and punctures are probable, such as that of Pierce, U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,759, and providing a glove with an inner layer of comprising a protective overlay such as that of Seid, U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,578. Each of these methods are improvements over the mere latex glove as far as protection is concerned, but cost and maneuverability is sacrificed in the process.
Another approach has been to imbed certain particles into the glove to strengthen the glove while retaining the tactile response of the latex glove. Barasch, U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,965 teaches the addition of granular vinyl chloride polymer to a curing glove to provide a randomly distributed textured area on the glove's inner surface. Gould, U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,263, and Samples, U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,930 each teach a material suitable for surgical gloves which includes platelets in the composite which are arranged so as to overlap and provide a protective layer within the surgical glove. The use of platelets requires additional processing to ensure that the platelets properly overlap in the desired arrangement, thereby complicating the manufacturing process. In another approach, whiskers of a sufficiently hard material have been introduced into the polymeric matrix which makes up the glove, as taught by myself in U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,555. However, the art is still striving to find an easily produced optimally reinforced surgical glove with the greatest ductile responsiveness and superior strength and resistance to cuts and punctures, especially one which requires very little change in the method of production thereby keeping costs down.